From watching these ads, the message seems to be that people who buy Camry’s are overtaken by the desire to do really stupid things. In the B.B. King commercial, the Camry owner buys a storage locker at auction. Now I’m not going to tell you that StorageWars is fake, but I will simply mention that if you believe “reality” television is actually “reality” then perhaps you need to take your bullshit detector in for a tune up. Buying storage lockers at auction is possibly profitable, but a highly risky business choice. Happening on an actual B.B. King guitar in an auction locker is pretty much akin to winning the lottery. Is that the next commercial? “Bold” Camry owner buys Powerball ticket. Hits the jackpot. Drives away.

The Bride Breakout commercial is worse. In this one, the “Bold” Camry owner crashes a wedding to express his undying love for the bride to be. Of course, being a commercial, the bride is actually thankful, running off with her “true love” the Camry own…sorry, the “Bold” Camry owner, with an actual car chase between the Camry and the car decorated for the soon to be married couple. While the car chase is ended by two adorable dogs, the commercial still raises several questions. First off, why is the runaway bride being chased after? Was she taking part in a shotgun wedding? Was this one of those mandatory “Gay” marriages the religious right is always warning us about? Second, why was this bride still going through with the wedding if she was that willing to skip out on it? Death do us part, indeed. Next, how long did they plan this breakout in order to train those dogs to cut off the pursuing cars? Perhaps most importantly, has this ever worked in the modern history of marriage? This is a plot device for a bad rom-com. Actually carrying out this plan is much more likely to cost the “Bold” Camry owner the friendship of the bride to be, and possible a restraining order. Seriously, you show up on her wedding day and in front of all her friends and family, decide to cause a scene by interrupting the ceremony to pledge your undying love to the person about to get fucking married to someone else? But what does the “Bold” Camry owner care? Obviously her friendship wasn’t enough for him. She must have, ick, “friend zoned” him, and she was just waiting for that grand romantic/psychotic gesture to drop her panties for him, since we all know those silly women folk never know what they want. *headdesk*

Mad’s reply was obviously written by a Toyota ad exec. (Hey, it’s just as much of a shot in the dark as Mad’s “obvious” categorization of me. *shrug*) Thanks to Just for getting the point.

Crashing a wedding to profess your love to the bride is one of those incredibly selfish “grand romantic gestures” that, while always successful in rom-coms, rarely plays out similarly in reality. (Like that other rom-com classic, “stalking a woman who has expressly turned you down already because you can make her fall in love with you by wearing down her resistances.” Ick.) Wait, did I say “incredibly selfish?” I obviously meant “bold,” like Camry owners. *rolls eyes.*

I will now take this time to point out that Dan, the comment below the one I am replying to, made a comment criticizing my post and then, in the same comment, said “If ya ain’t got nuthin’ good to say…,” causing me to wonder about the validity of advice given right after contradicting it. That’s zero to hypocrisy in 12 words. Very impressive.

Sad commentary on our culture? I can talk about sexism, misogyny, racism, homophobia, politics, atheism, rape culture, Islam, A Song of Ice and Fire, drug laws, police violence, or the media, and I reach my normal loyal little audience. I bitch about an idiotic advertising campaign for a car, and the whole internet* reads the post.

after watching these commercials all I thought was,wtf, is that supposed to make want to buy a camry? What does one have to do with the other? I think toyota is trying to out do Honda with stupid ads.Is anyone running to the dealerships after watching these things.

Fosterdisbelief, I agree with you completely. I’m having a hard time believing some egghead thought the bride commercial was in any way, shape or form, a good idea.
Not only did the idiot driving the car break up a wedding, the writers, and apparently a certain segment of our society, consider this move “bold” and admirable. Maybe it is bold, but it certainly isn’t admirable. Neither is the fact that both he and the bride are laughing at the jilted groom. Since when is it funny to treat another human being in this hurtful manner much less something to be admired?
My opinion is that this commercial is tasteless in the extreme.
There is a classy way to present ideas. This isn’t it.

I enjoyed the fosterdisbelief post, because it got to the core (in a humorous way) of my annoyance in watching both ads. Yeah, the ads are funny. And if you are NOT thinking about buying a car, they are entertaining. But, I fail to see any connection to the Toyota Camry brand- at least as I observe it. More simply put, if Toyota is trying to convince me that purchasing what is probably one to the top ten most common car models on the road is a “BOLD” decision- then that just seems like an over-reach. I’m not sure I would want to have a conversation in a social situation, with any person who was swayed by the commericials, into thinking that their Camry purchase was a BOLD decision.

[…] idiotic television commercials/ ad campaigns, which began way back in October of 2014 with this take down of Toyota’s “Bold” campaign for their Camry, then continued recently with Cracker Barrel’s anti-intellectual ad for mac and cheese, I […]

About the Author

Described as "intelligent but self-destructive," Foster Disbelief spent his twenties furiously attempting to waste his potential in a haze of religion and heroin. Science and atheism allowed him to escape his twin addictions and he now spends his days attempting to make the most of his three remaining brain cells.